18:05:14 School gardens.
Gareth goes to a lovely school in a bush location. The school is surrounded by greenery, bushes, gum trees. Idyllic. But like any garden it needs some TLC every now and again. A couple of times a year they set aside a Sunday morning and ask the families to come along for a few hours and work together to weed and thin back the growth so that it looks a bit more organised and we can pull out the plants and weeds that are trying to choke the nicer foliage. The benefits to this are multiple. The kids get to work side by side with their parents to clean and tidy the place they spend five days a week. Having helped to clean and gather rubbish from the gardens I believe it makes them take greater pride and care of their school playground over the coming weeks. It helps to build community spirit and parents get to know each other, particularly the Dad's who often work longer hours and are less involved in the school run. This is our last year at Primary school as Gareth will move on to a much larger High School in January. We will miss being part of such a small and special community although Byron says he won't miss wheelbarrowing mountains of mulch too much!
